The Sea of Humanity

Credit: Public Domain

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”

~Mother Teresa

The best and the worst of us are inside us all. Everyone is represented. Every thought or idea. Every dream and every nightmare belongs to us as a whole. From the roar of the mighty tyrant to the whispering cries of the small and the innocent. That is us. This is we, this restless sea called humanity. Soft as a pillow on which to lie your weary head or as hard as a rock to bash your brains in. Humanity is kindness and love. Humankind forgives and understands. Humans are also selfish and petty, cruel and vindictive. We have it in our capacity to kill; destroy which we hate or do not understand…even ourselves. This is what we do. We also have within ourselves great nobility and courage. We have greatness and potential. We not only destroy, we can save and reserrect.
The darkest unspeakable horrors lie in our common past. We are animals after all and it is not so long ago that we needed that harshness, that willingness to embrace that dark part of us to survive. It is the nature of the beast after all and no matter how we try to hide it at times we are the beast. .

The worst and the best of us are inside all of us. Perhaps it is what it means to be human is to have this conflicting nature. Perhaps this is what gives us our drive. Think of us as you may, we are the dominant ones on this planet and it was our primitive ancestors who insured this legacy for us, we the so-called civilized inheritors.
We are the beast. The animal who watched wide-eyed the downfall of Earth’s last dominant species; the dinosaurs. Our rodent ancestors, the first of the mammals inherited purely by luck and then by sheer determination this fantastic planet. It was our predecessors who clung to the safety of trees. It was our for-bearers who climbed out of the safety of those trees and learned how to make and use tools. We learned to communicate and cooperate. It was this which helped us grow and expand, this banding together. This social bonding survives deep in our nature to this day.

Credit: Public Domain

Where did we go wrong? Did we grow too smart for our own good? Did we grow too fast? Did we forget that pure intelligence without wisdom is a recipe for disaster?Where we too successful? Will that killer instinct turn on us in the end and destroy us. We who shaped this planet into our own image.Or will that instinct help us survive and thrive?

Is our journey over? Are we stuck on a plateau? Have we reached a golden age, never to return? Does evolution ever stop or are we still evolving?
I think we can, I think we are. I believe we have it within ourselves to grow into something amazing and quite wonderful. Some people believe we are at the end of our journey. They believe we have no business having traveled as far as we have. But we are not finished, we have only just begun. We are a child that has outgrown our playground. We are a child who is frightened to grow up. Growing is painful, growing hurts, but growing is what we must do….and it is within us all. It is up to all of us; every single drop in this sea of humanity.

Credit: Public Domain

We are all needed, but it starts with you…it starts with me. Together we can save ourselves and grow and change and become something we cannot fathom now, but something wonderful nonetheless.
It takes an act of kindness, multiplied by seven billion. It takes someone to stop keeping score. It takes a billion “I’m sorry’s” and “I care” and dammit, ” We can do this together!” It takes a trillion turns of the other cheek . It takes a light to shine the way and it takes seven billion to follow that light.

It will take all of humanity to save humanity.

We are frail, we are weak, we are human and together we are more powerful than any one of us can realize.

That’s so beautiful! Everything is truly interconnected in the universe, and there is no one thought or action of one person that wouldn’t influence all others… We truly project outwards what we feel inside towards ourselves and our lives.
So achieving outer peace starts with the establishment of the inner one. And the amount of love one wishes to have in their life equals the amount of love one shares with everything and the others.
We are like the drops of water in the sea, no drop can live a life separated from the body of the greater ocean! Peace and {{{hugs}}}!

Hello Shakti, You pose an excellent question..”But what if some of Humanity choose another path? What then? ALL I can say is hopefully not more of the same. I try to be positive but I am a partial realist, the other part is a dreamer and if I had to choose which part, I’ll pick dreamer everytime. I have hope for us, we who swim in this sea…

Amazing, Nancy. Thank you for this rally call for peace. I love so much about this post, but my favorite is the ending paragraphs. “It takes an act of kindness, multiplied by seven billion. It takes someone to stop keeping score. It takes a billion “I’m sorry’s” and “I care” and dammit, ” We can do this together!” It takes a trillion turns of the other cheek . It takes a light to shine the way and it takes seven billion to follow that light.” I wish we could put this on a t-shirt or a billboard and get everyone to join together in this battle for peace. Thank you so much for getting me stoked to spread peace at all times. {{{Hugs}}} Kozo

Oh Kozo, you get me stoked too. This blogging for Peace idea is a great one. I feel as if I am contributing in my small way and that feels wonderful! Thanks for inspiring me and others! {{{HUGS}}} to you too my friend!

So lovely, Nancy, and so inspiring. In today’s paper there was an article about people forgetting small common courtesies, like picking up your dog’s poop. and putting shopping carts in the corral instead of leaving them in the parking spaces, and the impact in our collective lives. These are some of the small kindnesses you write about. If they could be multiplied by seven billion, our planet would outshine the sun!

A marvelous post. Thank you for providing an aperture of light and its view to kindness, and for offering a reminder that within the smallest, simplest choices our own evolution can express itself in positive, loving, healing action.

This resonates so profoundly, and powerfully, I am having difficulty composing my thoughts…thank you for sharing. The metaphor is spot on and I love the simple truth to it. The good and the bad of all of us that resides in each of us as we are all connected. But we do not have to succumb to the negativity that exists within and without. I especially love how positive it is. We can turn this around, evolve, grow positively support one another in this. Thank you again:)

GREETINGS

I believe in MAGIC
The magic that lives inside us. I believe that our belief in ourselves in the single most important factor in determining our present and our future.
I believe in the almighty power of LOVE and that the meek shall inherit the earth...if we believe.
I believe in unity and understanding, in tolerance and compassion. I believe in the power of a smile and that a little kindness can go a long way.
I believe that diversity is beautiful and inclusion makes us strong. I believe we can stand together for what is truly important and I believe we have the wisdom to know just what that is.
Drop by drop, like rain falling into sea--there is an incredible force in that which is WE.
I believe it's our right and responsibility, our duty to ourselves and future generations to make this world a better place.
WE have more power than we know
PEACE and LOVE,
~N.L. McKinley (Strawberyindigo)

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“I couldn’t live where there were no trees–something vital in me would starve.”
― L.M. Montgomery

Words of Wisdom

“As a bee seeks nectar from all kinds of flowers, seek teachings everywhere. Like a deer that finds a quiet place to graze, seek seclusion to digest all you have gathered. Like a madman, beyond all limits, go wherever you please; and live like a lion, completely free of all fear.” – a tantra of Zogqen